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  • La Dispute

    35 • Rooms of the House

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drivers out on the bridge
slowing down as they go through a lane shift
wires snap, concrete gives
metal twisting and everything tumbling
 
at the end of the work day, stuck in traffic
don’t feel when the road sways underneath
concrete gives
metal twisting and everything tumbling
 
to their partners and kids
don’t suspect anything till the bridge splits
wires snap, concrete gives
metal twisting and everything tumbling down
 
where I sat, I saw brake lights flash
and I pictured them:
all the people, their faces in free fall, the water beneath
I pushed my palms against the table hard to see if it hurt
Were it glass would I have shattered it?
Could I battle every impulse to panic and then win?
Swim out through the metal twisting upward
like a sculpture or some terrible beast?
 
people trapped in their cars
put both feet on the glass and then kick hard
water pours in, seatbelts twist
river flowing and everything going down
 
people under the water line
workers sift through the wreckage of it find
seat belts stuck, water fills up
river flowing and everything going downstream
 
on the dining room wall I watched it play
in the reflection of the television
the reversal in the mirror hung
I could see it all
how the dust clouds gather color as they billow out
shades change shifting in the night
from the lights atop an ambulance
like a firework’s flash,
then that otherworldly glow
in the smoke thrown in the aftermath blows
almost frozen for a moment there
 
I could see it all:
every dust cloud, shattered glass
billow out on the TV
wires snap and the concrete gives
metal twists up and onward
 
I can see it all:
every dust cloud, shattered glass
billow out on the TV
wires snap and the concrete gives in
metal twists up and onward I watch
 
and I can see it all:
all the wreckage; all the cars piled
in the river and the rail yard
metal twists, wires snap
concrete blocks split and dangle from tie rods
and metal twists up
wires sway when a breeze blows
in the distant siren's glow
 
I can see it all:
where they look for survivors, searchlights float
change the color of smoke clouds and shadows still fall
people under the water
people trapped in their cars
kick and try to get out
people still with their seat belts on
pets they'd had in the back and car seats
 
and I watch it on TV lying down here
on the floor in the dining room reversed in the mirror
where I know I’m not dreaming now
but I know I've been sleeping
I just don’t know since when
 
I only know that it’s light outside
I only know that the rent is still late
When did they find out the concrete gave?
When did they learn that the wires snapped?
 

 

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